“Bird Shot”, the new single by The Sighs of Monsters takes aim at Russian president Vladimir Putin, the latest crazed despot to threaten the world with annihilation.
The Sighs of Monsters comment
“Though it was hard to digest, the threat of nuclear war loomed over the world again this month as another despot with grand delusions sent in his army to fulfil some twisted national destiny. Once again the citizens of peaceful cities took cover in underground shelters as sirens wailed above ground. This song is not a direct political commentary on current events however, but rather a rumination on what drives the tyrannical personality, and on the fragility of peace in our time.”
From a satirical fictionalised newsroom of state propaganda channel RT, the video accompanying “Bird Shot” sets Battleship Potemkin imagery against the war crimes of “Russia’s new Tsar”. The brutality of Tsar Nicholas II’s army portrayed in Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 Soviet film is one of the founding narratives of modern Russia, so the juxtaposition holds a mirror up to their own brutality in Ukraine today.
“Was it worth the blood and the pain?” the lyrics ask, as they poetically examine the mindset of “your mad king on the grounds, writing insane”. The band’s lyrics typically deal with the personal.
Bassist/lyricist Brett Houston-Lock comments on “Bird Shot”
“We are not a political band, but when a world event takes on a moral and existential dimension such as this, as artists, we cannot stay silent. It is not political, it is humanitarian. Growing up in South Africa during the apartheid years has given me some insight into societies led by paranoid leaders who have the police, the military and the state media at their disposal.”
“So, I think I understand at least some of the dynamics at play in Russia today, and must have in previous societies led by maniacs with a mad plan for the world. We certainly don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of the increasingly polarised and identity-driven politics poisoning social media these days, but we live in this world and sometimes we have to speak up.”
““Bird Shot” was released with a music video in which we montage imagery from Battleship Potemkin with our own ersatz news footage. Dean plays the reporter while Chris plays a victim in a homage to Eisenstein’s famous scene on the steps, while the rest of the band play other parts in the satirical news cast set at a fictitious TV News channel as things unravel for the mad tyrant.”
Previously the band released a single called “After Charlie” in response to the murders of Jews in Paris in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Tackling antisemitism, the song pointed to growing attacks on Jews in Europe and noted “this is not occupied Europe in 1941. This is the present day. This is contemporary”.
More info about The Sighs of Monsters
The Sighs of Monsters are a UK-based band of songwriters, musicians and producers engaged in creating music for those who still appreciate ‘the album’ as an art form.
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